[09/27/07 - 11:48 AM]Quick Take for Wednesday, September 26, 2007 (Based on Fast Affiliate Ratings)ABC spins the numbers for Wednesday, September 26.

[via press release from ABC]

Quick Take for Wednesday, September 26, 2007 (Based on Fast Affiliate Ratings)

ABC Wins the Opening Wednesday of the Season in Viewers and Across
The Adult Demos, with its Largest Audience on the Night in 10 Months

ABC Claims the Top 2 Most-Watched Shows Wednesday, while "Private Practice" is the No. 1 Show of the Night in Adults 18-34 and Key Women

"DWTS Special Results Show" Wins the 8 O'clock Hour, Leading its Time Period
In Viewers and Young Adults on Each Evening of its 3-Night Season Premiere Event

The Series Debut of "Private Practice" Outdraws NBC's "Bionic Woman" at 9pm, Representing the Network's Strongest Wednesday Series Premiere in 2 Years

ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" Takes Second at 10pm in Viewers and Ranks No. 1
Across Key Women, Beating CBS' Season Premiere of Time Period Veteran "CSI: NY"

Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

ABC won the first Wednesday of the television season in Total Viewers (13.8 million) and across each of the key adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (3.4/10), Adults 18-49 (4.2/11) and Adults 25-54 (5.1/13).

� ABC attracted its largest Wednesday night audience in more than 10 months - since 11/15/06.

� ABC claimed the Top 2 most-watched programs of the night, with "DWTS Special Results Show" � No. 1 and "Private Practice" � No. 2. In addition, "Private Practice" stood as Wednesday's No. 1 program in Adults 18-34 and across all key women demographics.

"Dancing with the Stars Special Results Show" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

On the third evening of its 3-night premiere event, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars Special Results Show" ranked No. 1 during the 8 o'clock hour in both Total Viewers (16.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.0/12), winning its time periods on all 3 nights on both measures. The ABC unscripted series qualified the most-watched TV show of the evening for the third straight night. Model/Actress Josie Maran was the first celebrity dancer to be eliminated from the dance competition. Please note that "DWTS the Results Show" moves to its regular Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. time period on 10/2/07.

� "DWTS Special Results Show" produced ABC's top viewer and young adult numbers in the time slot since November '06 � since 11/15/06.

"Private Practice" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

The debut of ABC's "Private Practice" was the most-watched show in its ultra competitive time period, outdrawing the high profile debut of NBC's "Bionic Woman" (14.2 million vs. 13.6 million). The new ABC series also dominated its time period and ranked as the No. 1 TV show of the night among Adults 18-34 (4.8/13) and across each of the key women demos: W18-34 (7.6/19), W18-49 (7.7/18) and W25-54 (8.4/18). "Private Practice" jumped from its Adult 18-49 lead-in by 28% (5.1/13 vs. 4.0/12) to take a strong second place in the hour among Adults 18-49.

� "Private Practice" represents the Network's top-rated Wednesday series debut in 2 years � since 9/21/05 when "Invasion" debuted, coming out of the high-rated season opener of "Lost." The new series attracted ABC's biggest audience in the time period since last November and its top Women 18-34 rating in nearly 1 year � since 11/8/06 and 10/4/06, respectively.

"Dirty Sexy Money" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" took second place during the 10 o'clock hour among viewers (10.4 million) and dominated the time period across each of the key women demographics (W18-34 � 4.5/12, W18-49 � 5.2/13 and W25-54 � 6.1/14), beating out time period veteran CBS' "CSI: NY" on all three counts.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year to year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has more than doubled from 8.54% during premiere week 2006 up to 19.43% currently. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. Therefore, the only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.